


By the numbers

by Dissenter



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Assassins kill people, Drinking & Talking, Hayato and Takeshi are very good assassins, Kill counts, Mafia ethics, The mafia is not nice, Values Dissonance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 11:16:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11554065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dissenter/pseuds/Dissenter
Summary: Takeshi knows exactly how many people he’s killed. He remembers their names, he remembers their faces, he remembers how they fought, how they died.Hayato doesn’t.





	By the numbers

**Author's Note:**

> Just a random piece of character study I had kicking around on my hard drive.

They were halfway through their second bottle of the night when Takeshi asked. Honestly it had been a casual question, just something to say to pass the time. He’d been spending a lot of time with Squalo lately and it was the kind of thing Squalo liked to talk about.

“So how many kills have you made?” He’d asked, curiously, and Hayato just shrugged casually.

“I don’t really know. More than twenty less than a hundred, I think.” Takeshi had blinked slowly as he registered just what Hayato had said.

“How can you not know?”

“Does it really matter?” Hayato’s tone had turned defensive. Takeshi’s face was a picture of horror.

“How can it not matter? You killed them. Don’t you at least owe it to them to remember their names?” Takeshi’s eyes had gone serious and focused, the way he did when he fought, or played baseball, it was a warning sign, but Hayato really didn’t care.

“Why? It’s not like it’ll make much difference to them, they’re dead, they’re a bit past caring what the bastard that killed them thinks about them.” He snapped, holding harsher words back behind his teeth.

“It’s a matter of respect. A swordsman should always respect his opponent, because one day he will be on the losing side, because one day he won’t walk away and it will be up to his enemy to bear witness to his passing.”

“Yeah well I’m not a swordsman.” Hayato snarled. Takeshi flinched slightly at his tone. “Look I’m an explosives expert. One of the very first things you have to accept as an explosives expert is that you will _never_ be sure how many people you’ve killed and that trying will only make you crazy. I’m not a swordsman, I don’t do that honourable respecting your opponent crap. I make people dead, because I’m paid to, because I’m told to, and half the time I never even see their faces. _That’s_ what a real hitman is, impersonal, someone who kills you and doesn’t _care_ why you’re marked for death. Whatever people might say you’re no natural born hitman. A natural killer maybe, but not a professional. I’ve been a professional since I was ten years old, I know this. So no I don’t know how many people I’ve fucking killed, and no I don’t have a problem with that. Does keeping count make you feel better about the fact you don’t really care? Does it make you a better person than me?”

“That’s not what I said.”

“No but it’s what you meant.” Hayato eased up on his temper slightly “Look, what you said before, about how one day you’ll be on the losing side. That’s true of all of us in this business, and one day when some bastard finally puts me six feet under I don’t care if he remembers me, I don’t care if he remembers my name, or my face, or the way I died, because that bastard will be an _enemy._ I care if my _family_ remembers me, my name, my face, the way I lived. That’s what’s important.” Takeshi looked uncomfortable.

“Squalo keeps track.” Hayato snorted.

“No Squalo keeps score. And besides, he’s a swordsman too.” He saw Takeshi’s pained expression and relented a little. “Look. You aren’t the only one who keeps track. I know Lawn head does, and the cow brat, not that he’s got many to remember yet. I’m pretty sure Mukuro keeps a detailed diary of everyone he kills and the many many horrors he inflicted on them in the process, although I think that’s more about reliving the moment than respect if I’m going to be brutally honest. Chrome remembers because Mukuro remembers. Hibari doesn’t though, he genuinely doesn’t care enough.”

“And Tsuna?”

“Tsuna’s a boss.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means he tried, at first, but it was too damn hard tracking all the consequences of all the decisions he made. It means he did his best but keeping track of every death that was a result of his decisions and assigning blame, was beyond even the most dedicated forensic accountant. He knows how many people’s he’s killed in person, all two of them, but the ones he ordered, or that happened as a side effect of his orders. It’s impossible to know, and he nearly tore himself apart trying until I made him stop. So listen to me now, you can say this shit to me, I can take it, but you don’t bring it up with the tenth. He doesn’t need that kind of guilt.

**Author's Note:**

> I just thought there was an interesting difference worth exploring, in the mindset between someone who kills up close and personal like Takeshi, and someone who uses area effect weapons like Hayato, and the things they tell themselves are appropriate in light of that.


End file.
